Collingtree / Colentreu / Colintre / Collingtrev / Collingtrough / Colyngtrowgh

The Victoria County History (vol. 4, 1937) notes: "The 12th-century church [...] was largely rebuilt in the latter part of the 14th century [...] The building was extensively restored in 1871–3 [...] and again in 1891 [...] The fine late-13th-century font has a circular bowl on a central column with moulded top and base, and four moulded legs, or shafts, the junctions of which with the bowl are carved with grotesque faces and vigorous animal forms." Noted in Mee (1945): "The round bowl of the font is the one the Norman priest would use, and has four carvings on its base [i.e., underbowl], representing an angel, a demon and two human faces." In Pevsner & Cherry (1973): "Font. Circular; against the underside of the bowl a king's head, a monster, a winged figure, and a quite unrecognizable motif. The suggested date is the C13." This is not a Norman font, nor are the figures 13th-century. If the carved heads and the font are all of the same date, it is a late font, perhaps 16th century (?); otherwise it could be a re-carved font. Nor are the heads as identified in Mee: the 'angel' is actually a Goya-esque winged head closer to a grotesque owl than an angel; one is a bearded long-haired man; the other two, one of which is badly damaged and appears human grotesque, while the last one is a Sun-like radiated flat and round mask; these faces are located at 90-degree angles, and exactly where the outer columns of the base fit, but they are part of the basin block; above them is a wide scotia, and the rest of the basin side is plain; the collonnettes of the base are clusters, with moulded bases; the central shaft is wider an has mouldings at top and bottom; the whole is raised on a circular lower base or plinth. A plan [source & date unknown] of the church interior shows the font marked in the south aisle, just west of the south entrance [in www.threeparishes.org.uk]. The VADS resource [www.vads.ac.uk] has a catalogue entry [ref. JLC/01/009] for a painting of this font [actually the basin only] by J.L. Carr dated September 1866 [the location of the obect is given as : 'Northamptonshire County Records Office']. The Heritage East Midlands catalogue lists a "Watercolour of font at Collingtree church" by Henry E.L. Dryden [ref. DR/25/069/004] [location: Northamptonshire Central Library]